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Establish Rules of Engagement The NFCC's goal is to foster and support communication that contributes to creative, collaborative solutions to contentious issues. Too often, competing interests find it difficult to have productive discussions. Many times it seems they cannot even agree on a common language, turning instead to rhetoric, negative reporting, and sharp-edged advocacy, all of which further polarize discourse and aggravate conflict. We believe that making it easier for differing perspectives and opinions to be investigated in a safe and productive atmosphere will promote collaborative problem solving. To accomplish this, we are working to engage communication leaders on all sides of major issues to develop a useful level of agreement about improved standards of discourse. We are focusing on how communication strategy, outreach, tone, delivery, and style either contribute to or deter debate on specific issues. We have adopted the principles of Appreciative Inquiry (AI) to help lay the foundation for this long-term change in the rules of engagement. AI posits that the things that people think and talk about, and the stories they choose to tell, indicate the real truth behind what they believe. The AI process relies upon "appreciating the best of what is," "envisioning what might be," "discussing what should be," and "innovating what will be." |